- Apple has launched a new artificial intelligence tool to generate 3D photos
- The tool can convert a 2D image into a 3D scene in less than a second
- This could be an update to the existing space photography tool on iOS
Remember when Apple introduced space photos on the lock screen in iOS 26? This feature added a stereoscopic effect to the flat images on the lock screen, and it’s cool, if a little gimmicky. Now, however, Apple has revealed a new trick that takes the effect to a whole new level, and could be a brilliant addition to your Apple device if it’s rolled out more widely.
That new tool is called SHARP and has just been presented in a research article published by Apple. Titled “Synthesis of Sharp Monocular Vision in Less Than a Second,” the paper describes a new tool that can convert 2D images into 3D spatial scenes in less than a second.
SHARP uses a neural network – In other words, artificial intelligence (AI), to quickly generate a 3D map of your image. That’s the part that takes less than a second to complete. Once completed, the image can be rendered in real time.
Apple says it trained the model on around eight million internally created synthetic images and 2.65 million licensed photographs, with the result that SHARP was able to learn to discern depth and scale and apply that knowledge to the input images.
It does this while maintaining consistency in things like scale and distance, meaning you shouldn’t see the types of stretching and warping that can occur when converting from 2D to 3D. This is key to maintaining immersion and producing a 3D image that users actually want to keep.
An evolution of space photographs.
Apple’s SHARP model generates photorealistic 3D Gaussian representations from a single image in seconds. GitHub: Enable photorealistic NVS from a photo by regressing 3D Gaussian parameters using a single NN fwd step (<1s on standard GPU).… pic.twitter.com/Wo6EyZIPvLDecember 17, 2025
At this point, SHARP is more of a proof of concept than a primetime feature, and there’s no indication of when (or if) it will come to Apple devices. While it is available for download on GitHub, it is not yet integrated into iOS 26 or macOS Tahoe.
That said, it seems like a natural evolution of the space photography feature Apple already launched. If the Photos app on your iPhone allows you to browse your images in this way, it could be an attractive selling point for many people. Add it to the Vision Pro headphones and it’s even more immersive.
All that being said, SHARP does have some drawbacks. For one thing, it focuses on rendering close scenes, meaning you can’t stray too far from the original point of view before fidelity starts to suffer.
But as a starting point, it’s certainly promising, especially considering how quickly it can work. Don’t be surprised to see it implemented on Apple operating systems at some point in the future.
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